NOPE. NOT TODAY. POP goes Mam.

I’m quietly fuming as I sit here typing.

It is the Monday after “Out weekend” . “Out weekend”  means that all our learners residing in the school hostel go home for the weekend. Home can be anywhere. Nearby towns, townships or locations. Visiting a house, a flat or worst case scenario : a shack in a location built from cardboard boxes and everything and anything the owner could find. Township land belongs to the municipality. You are allowed to build a shack on it but not a permanent structure. Throughout South Africa, hundreds of thousands of shacks make dense townships which grapple with fires, floods and sanitation problems. Large families live together in one room. Not a healthy atmosphere for growing teenagers.

I find the kids extremely difficult on the first day back after “Out weekend.” Some are exhausted, most are hyper , most have forgotten how to control themselves in a classroom. Many have spent the weekend wandering around without supervision, smoking and drinking until the early hours of the morning. A big number did not see Mum or Dad or both,  as they are living and working in other provinces of the country. Granny or Auntie was ” in charge “of them and possibly many more siblings and cousins all thrown together.

So…MONDAY. After “Out Weekend”.

Gr 10’s were louder than normal, chirping more than usual, some were glassy-eyed, unable to respond to a simple question.

My first Gr 9 class of the day almost had me in tears. They simple could not calm down. I chose the “ignore it” route first and started the lesson. Every time my back was turned they talked, commented, joked around. I issued a warning to the first one I caught out.

He ignored me, so I sent him out with a punishment essay to copy in the passage where I could keep an eye on him. This , he couldn’t deal with, arguing all the way.

I left Mr Still Arguing outside and returned to the rest of the class. A few more unruly beings found their way to the passage.

NOTHING worked today.

I’m frustrated and concerned. It’s week 8 of the Term and my energy is at an all time low.

If I don’t get the kids back on track TOMORROW I won’t finish the prescribed tasks for the Term.

Days like these give me sleepless nights.